U.S. Coast Guard crews this afternoon suspended their search for a missing fisherman whose boat ran aground at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach earlier today.
A 37-foot fishing boat named Paloma ran aground near Seal Rock at about 3:30 a.m. with only one possible person on board, Timothy Lybrand.
Coast Guard and San Francisco fire crews responded but did not find Lybrand after several hours of searching an 18-square-mile area between Ocean Beach and the Golden Gate Bridge, Coast Guard officials said.
The Coast Guard then suspended its search efforts around noon.
“The decision to suspend a search and rescue case is always difficult,” Coast Guard Capt. Mike Day said in a statement.
“Given the close proximity to shore, and the vessel operator’s stated intention to abandon the vessel, as well as the extensive search effort by the Coast Guard, National Park Service and San Francisco Fire Department Battalion 7, I have made the decision to suspend the active
search,” Day said.
There was a smell of gas coming from the wreckage but there was no visible sheen on the water to indicate an oil spill, Coast Guard officials said.
Coast Guard and National Park Service personnel are coordinating to ensure all fuel and hazardous materials are safely removed from the boat.
Anyone with information about Lybrand’s whereabouts is asked to call Coast Guard Sector San Francisco at (415) 399-3547.
Dan McMenamin and Scott Morris, Bay City News
